Vice President, People Group Operations

Job description

Why Ryan? Hybrid Work Options Award-Winning Culture Generous Personal Time Off (PTO) Benefits 14-Weeks of 100% Paid Leave for New Parents (Adoption Included) Monthly Gym Membership Reimbursement OR Gym Equipment Reimbursement Benefits Eligibility Effective Day One 401K with Employer Match Tuition Reimbursement After One Year of Service Fertility Assistance Program Four-Week Company-Paid Sabbatical Eligibility After Five Years of Service Reporting to the Chief People Officer, the Vice President, People Group Operations is a senior leader responsible for creating and sustaining a world-class global People Group services organization with automation and AI as core pillars of the operational strategy. This role ensures delivery of agile, streamlined, and value-driven People services that put AI and automation best practices at the forefront, scale across regions, optimize cost, and deliver an exceptional team member experience. This role serves as the operational engine of the People Group, ensuring every strategic initiative is supported by a strong, efficient backbone. This leader champions automation and AI, leverages advanced analytics, and drives a comprehensive roadmap of initiatives that enhance scalability, compliance, and operational excellence. Success in this role means creating a service function that is predictable, cost-conscious, and relentlessly focused on improving the team member experience while enabling the People Group to deliver strategic impact across the enterprise. Duties and Responsibilities as they align to Ryan’s Key Results: People: Own the People Group Services Organization: Lead the team that delivers the front line of People support—responding to inquiries, resolving issues, and ensuring every interaction is timely, accurate, and empathetic. Deliver Operational Excellence: Build a service delivery model that is agile, frictionless, and optimized for value, ensuring speed, reliability, and continuous improvement. Leadership Development: Build and mentor a high-performing operations team, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and operational excellence. Client: Drive People Data & Analytics and Workforce Planning: Drive enterprise People analytics and workforce planning to deliver actionable insights to inform talent strategies and business decisions. Drive change management and partner with Internal Communications to ensure clear, impactful messaging of People Group initiatives. People M&A Diligence and Integration: Lead People-related M&A workstreams, including due diligence, risk assessment, and seamless integration of People operations and processes. Value: Champion AI and Automation Agenda: Own and drive the AI and automation strategy in partnership with the VP, HRIS. Identify opportunities for automation and process improvement, and lead collaboration on tool selection, process design, documentation, team enablement, and change management to ensure successful adoption and measurable impact. Develop global playbooks and frameworks to ensure repeatable, consistent People operations across all regions. Knowledge Management: Establish and maintain a comprehensive knowledge management framework that captures the People Group’s collective expertise—policies, processes, workflows, and FAQs. Ensure and continuously update accurate, accessible documentation. Create structured, reliable knowledge assets to enable AI-driven solutions. Global Operational Strategy: Design and enforce repeatable, standardized processes that scale globally while accommodating local compliance. Ensure Global Governance: Ensure compliance with international employment laws and regulatory requirements by partnering with in-country experts and legal teams. Proactively mitigate risk and maintain adherence to global standards across all regions. Education and Experience: 15+ years of progressive People/HR leadership experience with global operational accountability Proven experience designing and scaling global processes and programs Extensive background in automation, process optimization, and AI-driven innovation. Expertise in People analytics and workforce planning Experience in People-related M&A diligence and integration Strong program and project management experience, including roadmap ownership Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s preferred Required Skills: Operational strategy design and execution at a global scale AI, automation and process improvement leadership Knowledge management development and documentation standards People analytics, workforce planning, and data-driven insight generation Change management and cross-functional communication Compliance and governance across international employment laws Ability to build, lead, and develop high-performing global teams Preferred Skills: Forward-looking mindset with active engagement in emerging AI applications for HR Demonstrated ability to standardize processes across diverse geographies Experience enabling global service delivery models with scalable frameworks Advanced strategic thinking in enterprise transformation initiatives Certifications & Licenses: SPHR, SHRM-SCP, or other relevant HR certifications preferred #LI-JN1